The invention relates generally to machine control and more specifically to an apparatus for remote control of complex machines by interaction with the human eye.
Remote control by human action has generally involved either wire, radio or sonic links between the operator and machine. But these links have traditionally been activated by conventional operator actions such as pushing buttons or turning selection knobs. Such physical actions, while satisfactory for the vast majority of situations, do not fulfill the requirements of all situations. Handicapped persons, for instance, frequently cannot perform the same mechanical operations as others and are therefore highly restricted in the machines they can control. Yet many handicapped individuals lead active and productive lives when equipment is available to enable them to perform functions that others can perform without special aids.
There exists in the art several devices to aid the handicapped perform limited functions even though their actions are highly restricted. U.S. Pat. No. 3,379,885 by C. L. Nork illustrates one such device. But this device permits only a simple on-off function and further restricts the operator by requiring the wearing of an attachment to the operator's head.
For more complex control, such as telephone operation, there are also available voice operated controls, such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,725,602 by Hoffman and U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,708 by Nabari, but voice operated devices have the inherent difficulty of recognition of a particular speech pattern.
The present invention solves the inadequacies of these former approaches by having the entire apparatus remote from the operator and using only the operator's eye wink as a control actuator. Moreover, since the signal generated by the wink is digital rather than analogue in nature, no recognition problem exists.